FORMER inmate Shaina Castro has filed a complaint against Department of Corrections officials in Superior Court for failure to protect and negligence.
Castro alleges that Corrections officers on duty failed to prevent her from being sexually assaulted by a male inmate sometime on April 2, 2024.
Represented by attorney Cong Nie, Castro in the lawsuit named as defendants Corrections Commissioner Anthony Torres in his official capacity, and current/former Corrections Officers Lynnae Cabrera, Tarius Kapwich, and Paulino Nekaifes in both their official and personal capacities.
Castro is demanding a jury trial and is seeking unspecified damages, reasonable attorney’s fees and suit costs.
The lawsuit was filed on Feb. 21, 2025.
The complaint
According to her 15-page complaint, Castro served a sentence as a prisoner in Corrections from around September 2022 to around September 2024.
Variety news files state that Castro, then 23 years old, was arrested in September 2022 and charged with burglary and theft.
At Corrections, Castro was housed in an area for inmates and detainees that was divided into four “pods.”
Pod 1 housed juveniles while Pods 2 to 4 housed adults. Pod 3 was the only pod that housed adult females. Pod 3 was subdivided into five sections, A through E.
Sections B and C housed adult female, while the others were for adult males. Castro was housed in Section C in Pod 3.
Access in and out of sections was secured by doors. The section doors locked themselves automatically upon closing.
It was impossible for an inmate to open a locked section door by himself or herself, Castro’s lawsuit stated.
Sections C and D were next to each other. There were side doors directly connecting both sections. Those side doors were kept locked by Corrections to prevent males from entering a female section and females from entering a male section.
According to the lawsuit, the opening of the section and side doors was controlled remotely from a control area commonly known as the “mini-control,” which was right outside the section doors.
In the middle of the mini-control, there was a desk where Correction officers are stationed to monitor access to all sections around the mini-control and to remotely control section doors, side doors, and cell doors.
The lawsuit stated that a Corrections officer stationed at the mini-control could see from the control panel which doors were closed or locked. A Corrections officer stationed at the mini-control could also see who entered or exited a section, as anyone coming or going would do so right in front of the desk at the mini-control, the lawsuit stated.
It added that a Corrections officer stationed at the mini-control could see into male sections through windows on the section doors and cell doors.
But the windows on the section doors of a female section were covered so that Corrections officers stationed at the mini-control were unable to see into the female section, the lawsuit stated.
In addition to the sections housing inmates, there was also an open area commonly known as the “mini court” at the correctional facility in Susupe.
There was a table by the mini court where Corrections officers were posted. From the table, an officer could monitor the mini court as well as the area immediately in front of the door of Section C.
According to the lawsuit, at the time of the events alleged, Cabrera was the section officer for Section C in Pod 3; Nekaifes was posted at the mini-control and was able to see clearly who came out of or went into a section and see into Section D through windows on its section door and cell doors; and Kapwich was posted at the table by the mini-court and was able to see clearly activities immediately in front of the section door of Section C.
‘G’s calling you’
On April 2, 2024, Castro heard banging from one of the side doors between sections C and D. Another female inmate in the section went to the side door and then came up to her and said, “G’s calling you.”
“G” was a male inmate, Gerald Sablan, who had been convicted of attempted murder and was serving his sentence.
The lawsuit stated that at one point, Sablan was relocated from his usual pod to Pod 3, the same pod where Castro was in. Sablan was housed in Section D of Pod 3. At that time, he was in isolation and there was no other male inmate or detainee with him. Sablan frequently used the side doors between sections to communicate with female inmates and detainees.
Through those side doors of Sections C and D, Sablan tried to court Castro, her lawsuit stated.
Sablan wrote love letters to Castro, and Castro wrote back occasionally. At one point, she learned that Sablan was trying to court another female inmate. She decided to stop talking to Sablan.
On April 2, 2024, when she was told that Sablan was calling her, Castro initially ignored it. The other female inmate then repeated that Sablan wanted to talk to her. In response, Castro said she did not want to talk to Sablan.
While Castro continued to wait near the section door for a paper she asked Cabrera, the door opened, and to her surprise it was Sablan who appeared at the door.
She alleged that Sablan grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out of Section C, past the open area outside the section door, and then into Section D.
‘He chose to do nothing’
Upon information and belief, Kapwich, who was sitting at the table by the mini-court, saw Sablan pulling Castro out of Section C and into Section D. He chose to do nothing to protect Castro, the lawsuit alleged.
Inside Section D, Sablan pulled Castro into a vacant cell and then secured the cell door. Sablan signaled to Nekaifes at the mini-control through the windows on the cell door and section door, the lawsuit stated.
After securing the cell door, Sablan started to kiss Castro, touched her private areas and asked her to take off her clothes, but she refused, her lawsuit stated.
Castro told him that she did not want to have sex with him and that she wanted to go back to her section. Sablan did not listen. He forcefully removed Castro’s pants and pulled her underwear to the side. Even though Castro tried to resist by kicking him and asked him to stop, Sablan sexually assaulted her, the lawsuit stated.
While they were roughly of the same height, Sablan was physically stronger than Castro and she was also scared of Sablan because she knew of Sablan’s conviction for attempted murder and feared for her personal safety if Sablan became even more violent, the lawsuit added.
At one point, the lawsuit stated, there was a loud bang from outside. Sablan went to check. Castro took the opportunity to put her pants back on. Sablan saw it and demanded Castro to not put her pants back on. Then there was another loud bang.
Upon information and belief, the loud bang was from Officer Cabrera banging on the section door of Section D. Cabrera had returned to Section C and discovered that Castro was no longer there, the lawsuit stated.
Instead of immediately having the mini-control open the section door and entering the male section to protect and retrieve Castro or call other officers to do so, upon information and belief, Cabrera deliberately chose to use the banging noise to alert Sablan and to wait for Sablan to voluntarily let Castro out of Section D, the lawsuit stated.
A ruse
“Sablan heard the loud banging. Castro begged Sablan to have the mini-control open the cell door. Sablan signaled Nekaifes. Upon information and belief, Nekaifes then opened the cell door. Castro immediately walked out of the cell. Sablan followed and demanded Castro to wait inside the male section. Sablan then took a cup and held up the cup to signal Nekaifes.
“Upon information and belief, holding a cup up to pretend he needed hot water was a ruse that Sablan used to signal Nekaifes to open the section in case someone else was watching him. Upon information and belief, after Sablan stuck his head out, Neikaifes told Sablan that Cabrera was looking for Castro.
“Like Cabrera, instead of immediately going inside the male section to protect and retrieve Castro or call other officers to do so, upon information and belief, Neikaifes deliberately chose to simply alert Sablan.
“After talking with Nekaifes, Sablan walked back to Castro, who was still in the male section. Sablan told Castro that her section officer was looking for her. Sablan told Castro to go back into the cell. Once Castro was back in the cell, Sablan told Castro that if she was questioned, she better not say anything and that the officers would eventually cover up themselves.
“Nekaifes eventually decided to go into the male section. But instead of immediately entering the cell to protect and retrieve Castro, Nekaifes stayed outside the cell and only spoke with Sablan from outside the cell.
“Castro took the opportunity to walk out of the cell. As Castro entered Section C, Cabrera told her words to the effect that the mini-control officer (meaning Nekaifes) saw everything and allowed it, and Cabrera was scared. Cabrera appeared very angry. She walked out of the section and, upon information and belief, yelled at Nekaifes.
“Shortly afterwards, Cabrera walked into Section C again. She went inside Castro’s cell and told her that it was important that everyone stick to the same story, that Castro was to just say Castro herself stepped out right beside the section door, so did Sablan, they spoke for just a minute, and that was when Cabrera caught them.
“Cabrera loudly said to the section words to the effect that ‘ladies, IA [Internal Affairs] will be coming in, remember, no one saw anything.’ Castro was scared and did not know whom to trust or speak to about what happened. Later that day, she was relocated to a different section.
“Later that day, she asked another [Corrections] officer if she could contact the Department of Public Safety to make a complaint and said that she wanted to go to the hospital. The officer said okay and then left her cell. A few minutes later, Cabrera walked in and asked Castro, ‘What the f*** is going on, why now are you asking to file a complaint with DPS?’
“Cabrera asked Castro what she had told the other [Corrections] officer and said ‘I thought I already spoke to you about this.’ Castro was scared and said that she did not know what Cabrera was talking about and that she just wanted to go to the hospital because she was not feeling well. That seemed to satisfy Cabrera.
“After Cabrera left, Castro checked if a new shift of officers had come in. Then she submitted another sick call request. Later that night, the other [Corrections] officer from earlier came to see Castro. After confirming with the officer that the previous shift was no longer around, Castro told the officer about the sexual assault by Sablan.
“Castro was then taken to the hospital, and a rape kit was used there to examine her,” the lawsuit stated.
It added that as a result of the sexual assault, Castro sustained bruises on her body, was traumatized, and suffered and continue to suffer emotional distress, resulting in depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Castro has exhausted administrative remedies before filing this lawsuit,” her lawyer said.
“Before filing this lawsuit, while in prison, Castro submitted a grievance to DOC demanding (among others) monetary damages. DOC denied the grievance and subsequent appeal. In its denial, DOC stated that the kind of monetary damages sought by Castro was not available through the grievance procedure,” Nie said.
He said Castro also submitted a claim for damages to the Office of the Attorney General.
“More than 90 days have passed since Castro’s submission. The Office of the Attorney General has not made a final disposition of the claim,” he added.
Asked for comment, Corrections Commissioner Anthony Torres said, “The complaint is presently in the initial stages of processing and we are awaiting the official submission to the Department of Corrections to assess the appropriate course of action. The safety and well-being of both inmates and officers remain our highest priority, and we will respond
